Why Homeschooling Is Growing

Fifteen years ago, the homeschooling movement seemed small, obscure, and, frankly, a bit scary. As a group, they seemed to be running away from the “immoral” public school system, and you were as likely to find them on a ramshackle farm in the middle of nowhere as doing seventh-grade Algebra at a kitchen table (and in some extreme cases, featured in publications like Slate using it as a front to neglect and abuse their kids).

In short, the homeschooling movement was brushed off as too quirky and fringe to be taken seriously. But fast forward, and the movement is burgeoning: It represents much of what is great about American democracy, and simultaneously shows what is good and what’s going wrong with education in America today.